I have a Kindle Touch. it sucks. No matter how lightly or hard I tap it, it skips like 5 pages and I have to tap back. It's awful. Also, the touching is just not good. It's a crapshoot whether the action you are trying to get actually happens.

I'd really like to get an e-reader but I'm torn about which one to get or even whether I should hang out a while for better features to come along.

I read a lot of non-fiction and a whole mass of academic articles. I like to scribble on things and come back to that page later. From what I've seen it looks like e-readers still have room to improve in this area. I looked at the Kindle DX because the larger screen size appealed to me but I'm still unsure.

Anyone got advice for me?

I got a Asus Transformer tablet for this purpose and I love it so, so much. It was honestly the BEST purchase I have ever made. I got the keyboard, which essentially doubles the already good battery life and gives me an easy way to take notes. I paid for a cheap PDF program that lets me annotate, highlight, or just scribble. Anyway, I could generally use it for school Monday through Thursday without a recharge (assuming I turned off the wireless), which is great for someone forgetful like me.

I have looked at regular ebooks on it, though, and I don't care for them on it because of the brightness, but I have a regular Kindle a few years back so I was used to that for normal books. I adore my Kindle but it is useless for PDFs.

I would go to a Best Buy type store and play around to see what suits you. The Nexus 7 is supposed to be all sorts of awesome, too.

I suspect that smaller libraries with larger digital collections will be the wave of the future, regardless of whether publishers are able to screw libraries over ebook rights.

How are they screwing libraries? People in publishing, editing, writing, etc need to be paid for their work.

Because first-sale doctrine was considered one of the traditional "safety valves" that balanced the public's access to copyrighted material with the economic interest of the copyright holders. The shift from print (which the owner of a physical copy could resell and lend) to digital (which one can't even purchase a copy of, but merely license, with whatever restrictions on lending or reselling the publisher chooses) has effectively rendered first-sale doctrine obsolete.

When the shift from print to digital is complete (and it will come eventually because, in the long term, there's a huge financial interest for publishers to do so) lending libraries will likely be done for. Public libraries may still endure in some different form, perhaps as the public computer labs that most are already on their way to becoming, but their lending function will be over, or at least hobbled into near uselessness.

_________________"All PPK gamers should put on their badge of shame right now. You will never leave the no-sex thread." - Vantine"I'm so glad my prison of principles has wifi." - Abelskiver

I suspect that smaller libraries with larger digital collections will be the wave of the future, regardless of whether publishers are able to screw libraries over ebook rights.

How are they screwing libraries? People in publishing, editing, writing, etc need to be paid for their work.

If a library buys a paperback, they can circulate it for many, many times--way more than 29. They can repair them, for example. Also, if someone takes home a paperback and doesn't read it, the condition probably doesn't deteriorate much. With the digital rights, it doesn't matter. If someone checks something out to look it over then immediately releases it again, that counts as a use. Imagine if patrons were allowed to handle a hard copy book only 29 times before it was thrown away.

This is ridiculous and not cost effective.

The publishers have also been screwing consumers. Lots of digital publications are badly edited for that medium and they cost more than the print version, plus have all sorts of strings attached. They are basically doing their best to emulate the early days of the music industries kicking and screaming tantrum against mp3.

_________________"This is the creepiest post ever if you don't know who Molly is." -Fee"a vegan death match sounds like something where we all end up hugging." -LisaPunk

reviving again, my hubby wants a nook (plain jane model, $79 i think without the glow light)for those of you have that have this type, are y'all still happy with it? any serious issues? or any issues with in-person customer service at barnes & noble or on the phone regarding the nook?

_________________"....but I finally found block tempeh a few weeks ago with the intent to give it my virginity." -Moon

I have to say, I love the nook tablet way better than the plain one (I don't know if they are still selling the tablet I got; it was around $160). I find it easier to read on, better page turning. Plus, I like having something I can use for other stuff (internet, netflix, school, etc.). Finding books on the tablet is easier too, since you can download free stuff from project Gutenberg directly. Shopping for books is more pleasant, too. With the plain one, you can't really read PDF files well, and I need to read a lot of those for school. In the plain jane's favor, the battery can last a whole dang month if you don't use it a lot, and even with heavy use it lasts forever.

I've got a Nook Color (the proto-Tablet). It works great for my purposes. I downloaded the OVerdrive app to hook up with my local library for ebook lending. Netflix works great. I'm thinking of rooting ti so I can access Hulu and some other apps for more versatility.

the plain jane one is $79 right now. getting an e-reader is a *big deal* for us. we are very old school. we mostly want it so we can buy out-of-print books that are now in only e-book format.

and the price is right. we share a computer and we both have smart phones in case we *have to* look something up or check e-mail while the other is on the computer, but this doesn't happen too often.

we weren't planning on using the nook as an alternate computer, plus we don't even have wireless in our house and don't feel comfortable trying to "borrow" one of neighbor's signals, if one exists.

can you use project gutenberg with the plain jane version? i was under the impression i could download to my computer and then use the usb cable thingie to transfer the e-book to the nook. also, does plain jane version support the app for library book lending?

thanks!

_________________"....but I finally found block tempeh a few weeks ago with the intent to give it my virginity." -Moon

I have a nook simple touch and it does the job. You can load Gutenberg or overdrive books from syncing with the computer. Another step, but not too bad. The battery life is great. I usually last 2-3 weeks.

_________________I would eat Dr. Cow pocket cheese in a second. I would eat it if you hid it under your hat, or in your backpack, but not if it was in your shoe. That's where I draw the line. -allularpunk

the plain jane one is $79 right now. getting an e-reader is a *big deal* for us. we are very old school. we mostly want it so we can buy out-of-print books that are now in only e-book format.

and the price is right. we share a computer and we both have smart phones in case we *have to* look something up or check e-mail while the other is on the computer, but this doesn't happen too often.

we weren't planning on using the nook as an alternate computer, plus we don't even have wireless in our house and don't feel comfortable trying to "borrow" one of neighbor's signals, if one exists.

can you use project gutenberg with the plain jane version? i was under the impression i could download to my computer and then use the usb cable thingie to transfer the e-book to the nook. also, does plain jane version support the app for library book lending?

I haven't tried Nook specifically (don't think we have them here) but my $.2: The best reader I've tried so far is a basic Sony (great pdf support, even multi column. If you only want to read books this might not matter to you). I also liked the Bookeen, but hated the iRiver. I prefer e-ink to tablets (I'm old school too). It's easy to transfer books from your computer via usb so if you don't need to update your library on the fly, you'll do fine. How does your library do e-books? Here they all use epub-format which you can read on a computer or pretty much any e-book reader except Kindle... I'd suggest checking which formats the books you want come in and making sure that the reader you buy supports it.

i'm so glad this discussion is happening, i also need to buy some sort of tablet but the critical function is to be able to read PDFs/epubs, not really to download anything, so i'm looking at the plain jane one.

One thing about plain Jane nook: no apps. All it holds are books and certain document files. So I don't know how that would work with library stuff. Do you have a Barnes & Noble nearby so you can play with the different nooks before you buy one?

i'm so glad this discussion is happening, i also need to buy some sort of tablet but the critical function is to be able to read PDFs/epubs, not really to download anything, so i'm looking at the plain jane one.

Do you have a price range?

Kindles can't read ePub but you could convert ePub files to another format, a pain but doable. If ePub is your critical function though, the pain might not be worth it. (and a side note is that in the US, the online libraries tend to support both ePub and Kindle)

If you are going to be reading a lot of files on it, I'd shy away from any color formats. Of the color formats though, the iPad retina is probably the easiest on the eyes. I used to read on my older iPad (non-retina) but I found myself wanting to read a lot which is why I bought the Kindle Paperwhite.

_________________You are all a disgrace to vegans. Go f*ck yourselves, especially linanil.

Last edited by linanil on Wed Mar 13, 2013 10:27 am, edited 1 time in total.

my price range is "minimal". i really havent thought about it at all; was thinking of just some cheap tablet but this seems to be a better price option.the vast majority of what i will be using is PDFs and power points. color will probably be necessary due to that.

I haven't really read many of the reviews but Project Gutenburg wrote a recommendation for the Nexus 7 (vs the Kindle Fire) if you wanted color and to read ePub. The cost starts at $199. It looks like you should be able to view powerpoints on the Nexus 7. With less storage space (8GB Nook, 16GB Nexus 7), the Nook HD starts at $199 as well but conflicting reports about ability to read PPT files. The Nexus 7 looks like a better value than the Nook HD.

Now here is where my bias comes in, I'd strongly recommend reading a variety of reviews of what you want vs an iPad mini. The cost of entry for an iPad mini is $329 Once I saw video reviews of the Kindle Fire, I knew it was a no go for me but I know others with a desired lower cost of entry might find it perfect. I really haven't seen any video reviews of the Nexus 7 but it seems like it might fit your desires along with budget. I also think a recommendation by Project Gutenberg is a good start.

_________________You are all a disgrace to vegans. Go f*ck yourselves, especially linanil.